Following the Heart
by Tales of Fox
Summary: After Sly returns from his battle with le Paradox, Carmelita ends up fired. With no job left, she turns to her boyfriend for support, and ends up finding a new career.
1. New Changes

Chapter 1

Life at Interpol can be rather fun and exciting, but it can also be frightening and chaotic. You get to travel the world, and see other cultures from time to time if you're lucky. You also get to make the world a better place by catching criminals. Though that part would be the reason for the fright, and chaos that comes with being an Interpol Officer. This was a truth that Carmelita Fox had to face when she joined.

Carmelita was truly a force to be reckoned with at Interpol. She made dozens of major arrests throughout her career in law enforcement. She also holds the record of being the best shot among all of the officers. She earned respect in her time at Interpol and made a lot of enemies even with her fellow coworkers which earned her the nickname 'Ironsides' thanks to people like Neyla. However, there was just one person that threatened her perfect record at Interpol.

Ever since the two met, Sly Cooper became an obsession for Carmelita when Barkley assigned her to arrest him. Many times she had tried, and many times he just barely slipped through her grasp. Though she loathed to admit it at the time, Sly always knew how to get under her skin, and use her emotions to his advantage. This meant using not only her anger to distract her, but also her compassion such as with Clock-La. This went on for a while until one day, she got lucky and managed to catch him, though not in the way she intended to.

During a fight against a former cohort of Sly's father, he ended up losing his memories. So Carmelita made him believe that he was a constable with Interpol, and her partner. It was her only way to finally stop him so she took the opportunity. Over the time the lie continued, he actually proved to be a valuable asset to Interpol, so Carmelita was privately rewarded for her success. The lie also provided one more benefit for the duo.

A week after Sly was working at Interpol, he ended up asking Carmelita on a date to which the vixen happily accepted. Naturally both officers were warned against starting a relationship but they both decided to accept the risks. It actually went splendidly and they found that they work better when honest about their feelings. Eventually she actually started to miss the time they spent playing cat and mouse, and almost wished that they could continue their chase. Until she found out a little secret he'd been hiding.

After learning that Sly lied about having amnesia, Carmelita felt betrayed to say the least. However, deep down, she felt that it was probably fair since she made him think that he was with Interpol. But then she would remember that he made her believe that she successfully fooled him. Even when he stopped thieving, he continued to play games with her head. At least until their game ended when he sacrificed himself to save her life and the lives of Bentley, and Murray.

The more Carmelita thought about the time she spent with Sly, the more she began to understand what was happening at the time. She realized that he lied for her sake so that they could be together, and that truth hurt her more than anything. She wanted to hold him close, and beg him never to leave her again. She wanted to feel his embrace as they stared off at the sunset together. She wanted to hear him say that he loved her a thousand times over, but she couldn't.

It wasn't until two months later that Bentley had informed Carmelita of a discovery. Once they found out that Sly was in Cairo, she rushed off on the nearest plane to see him. Needless to say, when the two saw each other again, all they could think about was keeping each other close, and never letting go. He promised never to lie to her ever again, and she promised that she wouldn't try to make him into something he wasn't. And the two continued living their lives happily as a secret couple. This lasted for a month before the cruel hand of fate took hold.

"Fox!" Carmelita heard Inspector Barkley shout, "In my office!"

The vixen began reluctantly walking towards Barkley's office. She obviously didn't want to since he wasn't someone to irk. But she knew that it'd be worse if she didn't comply and thus began walking. Unfortunately for her, his office was centered behind the many desks of the other Interpol officers. All of which heard Barkley's yelling and began to proceed mocking her for it.

She decided to ignore them and entered Barkley's office. She noticed that he was already seated, and was currently reading a file. As soon as he noticed her, he gave a look that chilled her to the core. The last time she saw that look, he almost fired her until Sly dropped a criminal in front of her. This wasn't going to be pleasant. "Yes Inspector Barkley?" Carmelita asked, deciding to get the matter dealt with now.

"Sit down Fox," Barkley ordered, and watched as she obeyed, "You told me that the Sly Cooper problem was handled."

Carmelita could feel her hands shake as she explained, "It was sir. I swear. What led you to believe that it wasn't?"

That was when Barkley walked over to his TV monitor, and turned it on, saying, "We received this footage from Egypt. It's dated 4 months ago."

Suddenly, there was a video tape playing of when Carmelita went to Cairo. It showed her waiting at the airport for someone. Then it showed how she ran into someone's arms, giving the person the biggest hug she could muster. And when their angle turned, it showed that she was kissing Sly Cooper. Then the video paused, allowing Carmelita to explain herself, but all she could come up with was, "Perhaps it's an error."

"One of the people there identified you," Barkley said before pointing a finger at the person in Carmelita's arms, "And also noticed that this was Cooper."

At this point, Carmelita knew that she was screwed. And she knew now why Barkley warned them against a relationship. Truth was that he was actually warming her more than he was warning Sly. Now she looks like an accomplice and all she could do was be honest to a point, "I know that this may look bad but-" she began to explain before Barkley interrupted.

"Bad would be you causing a scene with him. Considering that you were caught kissing, and hugging him, this is worse. Now the Interpol superiors will be questioning if this was always going on. They'll think you were protecting him."

"But I wasn't," Carmelita replied with a hint of desperation in her voice, "Yes, I lied when I told him that he was my partner but that was to help us stop him."

Barkley sighed, "Carmelita, a witness reported you saying that you don't care that he lied about the amnesia. You're not helping your case."

Now she was beginning to act desperate, "I'm sorry. It was a lapse in judgment. It won't happen again. I'll bring him in."

"No you won't," Barkley looked at her with a mix of regret and finality, "Every attempt you made has failed. And we know that you were dating him when he was with us. Your whole reputation as an honorable inspector has now been put in question, and not just by me."

"What are you saying?" Carmelita asked, hoping he wouldn't tell her what she was thinking he will.

But alas, luck was no longer on her side for this moment, "I'm saying we'll be assigning a new inspector to the case. And you need to clean out your desk."

That was when Carmelita began to feel her entire world collapse, "You're firing me? You can't be serious."

"I am. And there's no point in arguing. It's already done," Barkley said, "If I can't trust you, then I can't have you working for me."

She knew that she had no shot of keeping her job, but she was still going to voice her opinion either way, "I've done good work for Interpol for years. I brought in dozens of high class criminals, and now you're cutting me loose because of just one damn thief?"

Barkley raised his own voice in response, "Yes. I assigned you to the Cooper case, and instead you bring in criminals taken down by him."

"You can't do this," Carmelita jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands on his desk.

"I already did," Barkley replied as he stood up calmly and extended a hand to her, "Now hand in your badge, and your shock pistol, Miss Fox."

And with that statement, Carmelita just watched the final piece of her world fall into the abyss. She then pulled out her shock pistol, and Interpol badge to take one last look at them. She wanted to keep them on her and show that she was still trustworthy enough to carry them, but then she would just look like a corrupt cop getting a slap on the wrist. She felt tears build in her eyes, and anger build in her heart as she looked to Barkley. "Fine. Keep them," she said as she slammed the shock pistol on his head knocking him unconscious, and completely destroying the pistol.

After leaving his office, she cleared out her things from her office including her commendations, her photos, and the newspapers holding all of her arrests. When that was done, she packed everything in her car, and drove off from the Interpol office for the last time. The entire time, she fought back crying her eyes out while a voice in the back of her head was calling her a failure, and a joke. After all what kind of cop would fall in love with a thief? Once she arrived at her apartment, she grabbed her desk items from her car, and placed them by the entryway until she noticed something else.

Even though she couldn't see him, she could tell from the pleasant smell coming from her bedroom that Sly was waiting there. She began to feel a mix of emotions when she realized he was here. She wanted to strangle him, and blame him for her losing her career. She wanted to hold him close and have him tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted him to help her forget what had just happened to her in anyway possible. But he couldn't do that last part.

She decided to no longer keep him waiting, and opened the bedroom door to find him standing with his back to the door. He was standing in a pose that made him look like a big strong man with his cane resting on his shoulder. It was clear that he had his usual smug look on his face even when she couldn't see it. Normally this alone would make her want to kiss him senselessly, but today was a different day. And as he turned around he was going to find out why, just as he said, "Hey beautiful, how was your…"

He paused when he noticed her face. When he saw that her eyes were red and her face was damp with tears, both his smirk and his cane had dropped. He was quick to walk over to her with a comforting look on his face, and even through the tears, Carmelita could tell that he wanted to kill whoever made her feel this way. Eventually her resolve broke, and she began to hold Sly close, and cry into his shirt. After a while, Sly sat her down on the bed, and asked, "What happened?"

Carmelita settled down a little, and answered, "I was told to clear out my desk."

Sly's face then changed to a mix of shock and outrage, "What? Why?"

"They thought I was working with you," Carmelita answered as she used a tissue to dry the tears from her eyes, "They think I'm corrupt."

Now Sly was beyond pissed, "What? That's ridiculous. You're the best inspector I've ever come across."

Carmelita appreciated the support he was giving her. Unfortunately she still felt like a failure. Sure she made countless arrests throughout her career but they were almost all made with Sly's help. They weren't even her main assignment to begin with smearing she was just in the right place at the right time. She then looked down at the ground, and said, "I had one assignment which was to bring you in. And I couldn't even do that."

"I'm sorry Carm," Sly said as he held her close, "I didn't mean to cause this."

Carmelita hugged back, "You didn't. This is on me."

Sly pulled away so she could see his seriousness at his next statement, "I'd give them a piece of my mind if I could."

"I already did," Carmelita looked into his eyes with a light smile, "I smashed my shock pistol on Barkley's head."

Sly began to laugh, and when he finished laughing, he kissed her forehead, and said, "That's my girl."

Carmelita's own smile faded at another realization, "Since I'm out of a job, I'll probably need to move out."

Sly nodded in agreement just before Carmelita warned him about something else, "They know you're back to being a thief by the way. They found security footage from the airport in Cairo."

Sly found himself back to smiling again, "Good thing they no longer have a way to find me."

Carmelita gave a light chuckle, "Morons."

That was when Sly had an idea, "Actually, now that I think of it, why don't you join us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you have pretty handy skills for a thief already. Not to mention, you'd be able to spend more time with us. And you know that I always enjoy spending quality time with you anyway. So what do you say?"

"You Really think I should?"

"Hell Yeah. You're an absolute badass. And if it helps, you wouldn't have to worry about losing your place too much."

Carmelita smiled at the flattery but gave Sly's offer an honest thought. Truth be told, she actually started to see why Sly does what he does everyday. Criminal acts aside, he does mostly go after criminals, and has helped her put away a lot of bad people. Not to mention, deep down Carmelita thought that he made thievery sound like so much fun whenever he mentioned it after coming back from Egypt. So Carmelita decided to hear him out, "When would I start?"

"You can start right now," Sly answered, "But we'd have to move you out of your apartment."

Carmelita nodded, "Yeah. Interpol would find me pretty quickly."

"We can help you move out," Sly suggested as he picked up his cane from the floor.

"One condition though Sly. If I join you, I need to know that we aren't stealing from innocent people."

Sly always knew that Carmelita had reservations about his work. Each time he assured her that his only target is other thieves. He never blamed her for not quite understanding, nor did he blame her for asking again now. After all, it probably wouldn't be good if she was so willing to change what side of the law she was on immediately. Which is why he had no problem reassuring her again, "We never steal from the innocent. Just other criminals."

Carmelita then smiled at the response she got, "In that case, I'll happily accept your offer."

"Great. I'll let the guys know, and then you can move out," Sly said as he pulled out his binocucom to call Bentley, "Best not to attract attention on the first day."

While Sly was conversing with Bentley, Carmelita got ready to pack her things. Thankfully because she was an officer in Interpol, it got her use to packing light so she didn't have much that she needed to take with her. Not to mention, the only things she needed to make her home a home was the photo of her with her family, and another photo of her first date with Sly. So she was able to finish by the time Sly was done chatting with Bentley. When he finished, he smiled at Carmelita, indicating that things were cleared up, so they packed everything in the car, and Carmelita closed the door to her apartment for the last time.


	2. A New Start

Chapter 2

After Carmelita left her notice with the landlord of her apartment, she began the process of moving everything out. She had now officially said goodbye to her life as an Interpol officer. At the same time, she was also saying hello to her new life as a master thief. And to be honest, she was rather giddy about the whole thing.

Ever since Carmelita helped Sly on a few of his heists, she made a discovery about herself. Turns out, she found it thrilling working on the other side of the law. Of course, she generally made excuses up like how there was no real law back then. Sly's favorite excuse was Carmelita claiming that the item she stole just happened to be in her pocket. However that was all at a time where she forced herself to suppress any desire to break the law, but now she didn't have to worry about rules getting in the way anymore.

She snapped back to the present when she noticed the car stop in front of a lovely manor. Sly, who was driving her there, helped to grab the luggage as they made their way inside. As she expected, she noticed security cameras aimed at every corner, and the front door had a keypad to allow entry. Once the door opened for her, she heard Sly say, "Welcome to your new home Carmelita."

The interior was absolutely stunning. It looked like what one would expect from a mansion worth millions of dollars. But she knew that Sly could afford it since she saw the inside of his family vault a few years back. It still surprised her that the Cooper Gang was living in a place like this, not that she was complaining. In fact, after she took in the sights, she spoke her first sentence since arriving, "It's incredible. Why can't I stay in places like this?"

"Wrong career choices?" Sly thought out loud.

Carmelita playfully shoved him in response, "Very funny."

Sly was about to make another quip when the two heard Bentley arrive from around the corner of a hallway, and said, "Hey Sly. I just saw…Carmelita?"

Carmelita gave a friendly smile, and said, "Hey Bentley. Sorry if this was a sho-oof."

She was interrupted when Murray raced up to her, and hugged her tightly saying, "Carmelita! Good to see you again!"

"Easy Murray," Sly said in an attempt to calm him down, "Don't crush her."

"Sorry," Murray said as he released the former officer.

Over the months that Sly was away, Carmelita grew closer with the two. Sure they were still fugitives but with Sly gone, Carmelita didn't really have the heart to bring them in. And every once in a while she would hang out with Bentley at the bar, him helping Carmelita with Sly gone and her helping Bentley get over Penelope. She would also sometimes help Murray tune up the van when it needed it but it never saw use for thievery much with Sly gone. However when Sly returned, she visited less frequently out of concern for getting them in deeper trouble.

Thus the reason for Murray's question, "So what brings you here?"

"Please tell me you aren't here to arrest us," Bentley asked, concerned that she was here for work.

"I can't," Carmelita answered as she stretched a little after being released from Murray's grip, "I was fired from Interpol."

Both boys were shocked, "What? Why?"

"Well my reputation was destroyed after Sly was shown to be back to thieving," Carmelita answered again.

"Again, I do apologize for that babe," Sly said as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

While she gave him a forgiving look, Bentley also spoke up, "We're all sorry for Sly's habit to ruin anyone's good name."

Carmelita giggled at Bentley's remark, "Anyway, Sly offered me a spot on your team."

Both Bentley, and Murray glanced at each other with shocked expressions before turning back to face Carmelita with Murray saying, "You mean you're joining us now?"

"If you guys will allow me," Carmelita looked at them with hopeful eyes.

"Rock on! Murray approves," Murray exclaimed excitedly.

Carmelita laughed at the enthusiasm from the hippo, and said, "Thanks big guy."

Sly looked to his other friend, who wasn't reacting much, "Bentley?"

Carmelita did expect Bentley to have some issue with her joining. Part of it being from what he went through with Penelope making him slow to trust people. The other part being that the officer in charge of bringing them in is now wanting to join the Cooper gang. She knew that red flags would already be raised in the turtle's mind. Eventually Bentley explained what he was thinking.

"Well normally I'd want to see her skills in the field, but we've seen plenty of that. And I'd want to do a background check on her, but we already know everything there is to know about her, mostly. As far as I'm concerned, she's more than welcome on the team."

Carmelita let out a sigh of relief, "I was worried that you wouldn't trust me."

Bentley shrugged and replied with a grin, "So far, I see no reason not to."

"Then it's settled," Sly announced, breaking the moment, "Carmelita, welcome to the team. Now to get you settled in."

It wasn't much of a celebration but she was willing to accept it. She certainly didn't expect any of them to rush up and pop a bottle of champagne. And she was glad that the other two didn't turn her away after everything she went through with them. So as far as moments go, Carmelita was willing to take what she could get right now. However there was something else on the young fox's mind, "I'm guessing I should unpack?"

"Not much of a point," Sly began explaining, "As a master thief, one would be expected not to stay in one place for too long. But there's always the desire for a place to stay for a longer period of time. So I'll leave that decision up to you."

Carmelita smiled in response, "Sounds like it can wait. Where do we start with the thieving?"

"Let's walk before we start running," Sly pointed out, "First, we start with training. And with this."

Carmelita watched as Sly led her to what looked like a heavily secured vault. The door opened to reveal what was inside. Though rather than shock her, it left her more confused as to the existence of the vault. Because the only thing that was inside was a book locked away in a case on the far wall of the vault. Essentially prompting the vixen to look at her boyfriend, and ask, "What's this?"

As Sly walked towards the case, he proudly answered the question, "The Thieveous Raccoonus. It's a book containing my family's history and all of their specialized moves. As well as a few of the massive heists. I showed it to Bentley, and Murray but they both prefer to stick with their own style."

"That And I sort of missed my chance to get started on the moves by this point," Bentley chimed in.

Carmelita was confused at first until she looked down at his legs, and said, "Right. Because of Neyla."

Neyla was never a pleasant memory for any of them. She was only assigned as Carmelita's partner on the Cooper case because of the connection to the Klaww gang. However she received warnings about working with Neyla, her coworkers saying that she was ruthless, ambitious, and had no qualms doing whatever it took to get things accomplished. She also heard rumor that the constable was corrupt but never found truth to it, not that it made her trust the lady one bit. In honesty, Carmelita blames herself for not paying attention to the rumors about Neyla which led to the lady becoming Clock-La and paralyzing Bentley.

In an attempt to change the topic, Sly brought the subject back to the book, "Anyway, you should read this. It'll help when you're out in the field. And this way I won't feel so lonely on heists."

"Oh poor ringtail," Carmelita teased lightly, "Okay. I'll get started on this book right now."

However, since the book was in a case mounted on the wall, she didn't notice one retrieved the book and turned around to face her. And she noticed that the book was massive. She had seen what it looked like a few times but she never knew how thick the book was. She did know that it had a lot written down in it, only because Sly told her that the book contained his family history. Carmelita simply stared at the book in shock, and said, "Dios mio. How are there still blank pages in this thing?"

"We don't know," Sly shrugged as he set the book down on a nearby table.

Murray began providing an assumption, "We think either pages have been added to it…"

"Or that's not the original book," Bentley finished saying.

Both assumptions sounded accurate to Carmelita. A few of the pages looked like they used rag paper, or had holes from bookworms. And she figured that the first entries were probably written in stone back when it was started. So maybe they were both right, but with the time machine gone, there's no way to tell for sure anymore. But the thought alone was fascinating for sure.

"Either way, make sure to read that," Sly suggested, "I'll also have a list for you to get completed before your first heist."

"Thanks Sly," Carmelita said as she gave Sly a kiss on the cheek. The others went back to their normal routine since Carmelita would be at the book for a while. As they were leaving, Sly couldn't help but grin as she began enthusiastically reading. With the book in her hands now, she opened it up and said, "Okay. Chapter one."


	3. New Insight

Chapter 3

Several days had passed by for the Cooper gang since they got their newest member. And so far, Bentley and Murray were relieved that Interpol hadn't found them by now. It wasn't so much that they didn't believe Carmelita's story about being fired, which they knew was true after Bentley sifted through the employee list where she worked. But it was more that they didn't know how much she'd take to being a thief when she actually got started. However, they soon found out after a couple days.

Or at least Murray did when he walked into the dining room, "Uh Sly?"

"Yeah big guy?" Sly asked before looking at the dining room table, "Oh."

In the dining room was Carmelita asleep at the table. Currently being used as a pillow was the Thieveous Raccoonus laying on the table under her head. It explained why Sly's bed, which was being shared with Carmelita, was empty once again. While Sly was pleased that she was ready to get started, he was worried that she was probably getting too invested. Especially since this wasn't the first time the gang woke to find Carmelita in that state.

A fact that Bentley pointed out as he made his way into the room as well, "Did she stay up all night reading that thing again?"

"I got this," Sly said as he walked over towards his napping girlfriend.

"Good. Because I'm starving," Murray said as he got to cooking in the kitchen.

To Sly, Carmelita always looked so pretty when she was asleep. It was a rare occurrence when he got to watch her sleep especially when he was her partner in Interpol. He almost revealed the fact that he lied about the amnesia when she 'made him think' that they live in the same apartment. And whenever he did see her asleep, he almost wanted to grab a camera but he assumed that if he did that again, she'd kill him. But he knew that he needed to wake her up, and got started to do so, "Carm? Time to get-"

Carmelita's eyes opened on high alert as she grabbed Sly's hand which was currently nudging her awake, and pinned him to the table. However, her little arm bar lock didn't last once she saw that it was Sly waking her. She released him as she said, "Oh Sly, it's you. Sorry about that."

Sly held his shoulder in pain as he replied, "That can happen when you're lacking sleep. I feel like I should've learned my lesson by now."

There were many times when Sly woke Carmelita from slumber, and ended up suffering for it. Not that he blamed her for injuring him. It was completely out of reflex after all, and it was a habit she got into when she was in the bad parts of the world. He was just grateful that she didn't always act so defensively when she was being woken up. However, he decided to change the topic, "Enjoying the book?"

Carmelita smiled in response, "Yeah. I think I'm almost at the good part."

Sly began looking a little concerned, "You know…you don't need to have the book memorized."

Carmelita gave an apologetic look, "I know. I'm just so excited that I lost track of things."

Sly couldn't help but laugh a little at the fact, "Were you this excited when you joined Interpol?"

"Yeah," Carmelita answered as she remembered her first week, "It didn't end well."

Carmelita's first month at Interpol was less than ideal, and it was t because she struggled. Actually she got really into her training a bit too much and almost crippled herself. One thing that she received heavy commendation For was her determination for sure. Her only issue was knowing when to stop, and in her mind, that included knowing when to stop chasing Sly. But she learned her lesson a few of those times, though it was only before she ended up forgetting what she learned.

Sly started to get to his point more thoroughly, "Well you have been at this pretty hard for a couple of weeks. Good thing is that it's paying off. Your hand-to-hand is killer. Literally. You're improving on your lock picking skills, and you're the only one of the team that I've seen pull off some of my family's signature moves."

Carmelita smiled at the compliments, "Part of it came from actually seeing them being used by their creators."

"I think you deserve a break," Sly suggested as he put an arm around her shoulders, "Overworking yourself is never a good idea."

Carmelita sighed in response, "You're Probably Right."

Before long Murray entered the dining room with his breakfast. Meanwhile Bentley followed behind with his plate in his lap. The robotic arms attached to his chair were holding two other plates. Once Bentley rolled up to the table, he set the plates of food down in front of Sly, and Carmelita with the former taking the book, and setting it aside. Carmelita turned towards the turtle, and said, "Thanks Bentley."

"You're welcome," Bentley said, "Hope you enjoy because Murray is actually a decent cook when he puts in effort."

The crew began eating their food. However, part way into the meal, it became clear that there were questions that the two boys wanted to ask Carmelita. Both looked at each other from time to time with non verbal communication. Eventually they realized that someone had to start talking before there becomes an awkward silence. Which led to Murray speaking first, "So do you mind if I ask a personal question?"

Carmelita paused her eating so she could answer, "Sure, go ahead."

"What made you decide to join Interpol?" Murray asked.

To be honest, it was actually a question that played on the minds of all Cooper gang members. They always wanted to know more about Carmelita, including Sly, but every time they tried, other interruptions come up. At least that was Bentley's excuse while Sly's was that he was worried that she would hate him for trying. Murray's only excuse was that by the time he remembered the question, it was too late. Thankfully they got to ask it now.

And Carmelita was happy to answer, "Well I Come from a long line of cops, and law enforcement officials."

"So like the opposite of my family," Sly chimed in.

"Right," Carmelita replied before giving a light chuckle, "My dad was proud when my brother and I both joined."

"You have a brother?" Bentley asked, prompting Carmelita to explain her whole family.

"I have more than a brother. But that's a story for another time. Anyway, I was always fascinated by his stories that I decided to be like him and become a cop. So I trained my ass off for the job. Almost literally."

"Not doubting that at all," Sly said as he felt something pop in his arm from when Carmelita pinned him earlier.

"Yeah," Carmelita said with an apologetic glance at her boyfriend, "Too bad it didn't work out."

"Sorry about that," Sly put an arm around Carmelita since he still felt guilty about her being fired.

Carmelita never really blamed Sly for her career coming to an end. If ending, she was happy that Sly was involved in her life since he was the reason she was able to get past being fired. She actually blamed herself for a while until she remembered that she will have a new career to look forward to. So she just smiled and leaned into Sly as if to say that he didn't need to apologize. Murray broke the moment unfortunately by asking, "What did your dad say about you getting fired?"

"I don't know," Carmelita answered honestly, "Neither of us brought it up."

The vixen then explained how her mindset was actually because of everything that her father taught her about the law. Such as how she always viewed what the Cooper Gang did as still criminal since while they fight other criminals, it was still done outside of the law. And he was retired from Interpol anyway so he couldn't really do much to fix the termination anyway, nor would he even be aware that it happened. Though she was confident that he'd take her side in the matter.

That was when Bentley asked another question, "Does he know that you're dating Sly Cooper?"

Carmelita paled at the realization that no one else, even her closest relatives knew about her relationship, "I hope not. He's really protective of his family. Chances are Sly wouldn't last long if he knew."

"Wait a minute," Sly began to ask, "Did he know that we were dating when you thought I had amnesia?"

"Yeah, But I didn't really tell him the name he would know you as," Carmelita answered honestly, "By the way, he said that if you ever broke my heart, he'd break your everything. Of course he would start with taking away what makes you a guy most likely."

Sly gulped at the thought as he crossed his legs, "Dios mio."

"Don't worry. I told him that you were once a criminal who changed his ways, and I didn't tell him about how you went back to thieving," Carmelita said reassuringly, "And he's retired so he probably hasn't heard it himself yet."

Sly sighed as he relaxed a little, "So I'm safe."

"Actually I would estimate that you have up to a month to live," Bentley said lightly teasing his brother.

"I'd give it 2," Murray said, joining in on the teasing.

Bentley gave a littl laugh, "If he's lucky."

Murray smiled, "How about we place a bet on that?"

"Fine," Bentley extended a robotic hand to the pink hippo, "10 euros to the winner."

While Murray shook the hand, Sly complained, "You guys really aren't helping."

Murray simply shrugged after releasing the hand, "Sorry Sly."

Bentley just pushed up his glasses as he looked to Sly, "By the way, when he kills you who leads the gang?"

Sly groaned in response, "Really?"

Murray came to the turtle's defense, "I mean we do need to know."

Sly growled before answering, "Carmelita is in charge."

Both boys looked at Carmelita with disappointment, before Carmelita grabbed the book, and pulled Sly from his seat saying, "Okay I think that's enough of that."

Carmelita then dragged Sly off to the shared bedroom. She figured that Sly was joking when he said that she'd be the new leader of the gang, but she could tell that they thought he was serious for a second. And to be honest, she thought the same thing briefly. But thankfully she realized that Sly wouldn't do that, though he would hope that the three would get along well. Once she was sure that they were alone, she let out a relieved sigh that the awkward moment was gone, "Sorry. Just didn't want to cause an issue there."

Sly nodded, "Yeah. Just don't overwork yourself babe."

"Thanks Sly," Carmelita smiled with genuine gratitude, "I'm just still struggling in some parts."

Sly nodded again, "Okay. Tell me where you need help."

The rest of the day was spent with Sly helping Carmelita better understand other parts of being a thief. When he was done, it was already night time. So they decided to take a break with Carmelita heading off to bed, or at least being forced to by Sly this time. When he was sure that she was asleep this time, he went down to check with Bentley on how their gift for Carmelita was turning out. Just a little while longer.


	4. Giving Gifts

Chapter 4

The thief training was going smashingly, though perhaps it was going too literally smashingly. Thankfully, Carmelita had been managing to get the training done successfully. But there were quite a few times where she had cut it a little closer than she planned. The first few days, Bentley had to put together his training bots constantly since Carmelita kept accidentally destroying them. So it would make sense that her state of pain and fatigue was a result of karma.

"How's the training going?" Murray asked as the three boys walked into the living room where Carmelita was.

The Vixen was currently laying down on her back on the couch clearly too sore to move. It also looked like her present aching feeling was keeping her from resting. Which seemed to have been her goal since she had a pillow resting under her head, and a glass of water on the end table beside her. Her hair was in a complete mess and her clothes weren't looking very great since there were a lot of holes, revealing several bruises from her effort. The three walked over to her as Murray asked, "Yikes. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Don't take this the wrong way Carm, but you look like hell," Sly said as he sat down beside his girlfriend.

Carmelita raised her head slightly as she responded to the comments made, not even bothering to move the few strands of hair out of her face first, "I feel like hell. Props To Bentley for his training bots. You weren't kidding when you said I should take it easy."

"I learned the hard way as well," Sly said with a slight chuckle, "I was so excited to work on our very first heist that I trained my butt off. I felt paralyzed the next day. Speaking of, how did she do Bentley?"

Bentley looked at Sky with a deadpan expression, "Funny. A few close calls but I'd say that she deserves an A+."

"Yay," Carmelita replied with her face in the couch, "But I still ache."

"Just relax a little, and you'll be fine," Bentley suggested, "Hey, Murray. Mind if we work on some upgrades to your van?"

Murray nodded, "Sure pal. Let's go."

As the two took off, Sly began giving Carmelita a massage at her request. It wasn't uncommon between the two since she would often come home feeling a little sore. And ever since Sly gave her a massage after his first week of working at Interpol, he'd been doing it every time his girlfriend came home from a rough day. Not that either one was really complaining about it. During the massage, Carmelita said, "You should be a masseuse with hands like those."

"Oh," Sly said, remembering something as he handed Carmelita a box, "This is for you.""Well to be a good thief, you need to have good hands, This is for you.

Carmelita grabs the box and eyes it curiously, "What is it?"

"Consider it a birthday present," Sly said as the two adjusted their position on the couch so that they were sitting side by side.

Carmelita then Looks to Sly with a confused glance, "But my birthday isn't until Summer."

The raccoon simply shrugged in response, "I know that."

"Do you?" Carmelita asked in a testing way.

"You were born June 30th. I didn't forget your birthday."

"Just checking."

"Fine. Call it a Christmas gift.

"Christmas is still two months out."

Sly sighed, "Just open your present babe."

Carmelita examined the box as if expecting an unpleasant surprise. Which only happened once as a little prank from Sly when she agreed to join the team of thieves. She was told that it was simply part of her 'initiation' which she knew was a lie. At least, she assumed it was a lie since Sly had a tendency to be mischievous even when they were dating as Interpol operatives. So when Carmelita finished examining the box, she looked at her boyfriend, and asked, "What's this?"

"It's a thief's starter kit," was all he answered with as he waited for her to actually open the box.

Finally, Carmelita opened up the box and found a mix of items inside which she pulled out one by one. The first thing was a dark red satchel containing numerous lock-picks and many cards similar to what Sly would generally leave behind. Next was a dark red thief's mask which looked to be sized perfectly for her. After that was a red binocucom also sized perfectly for her face. Finally, she pulled out a dark red sneaking suit which she assumed Sly had a hand in making because of how it looked in terms of style.

When she finished going through everything, she said, "Hell of a starter kit."

Sly smiled as he gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Only the best for my girl."

Carmelita also pointed out another observation, "It's all red."

"A little personal touch for you," Sly replied, "Goes well with your fur."

"I love it," Carmelita beamed. She was about to say more nice things until she noticed other objects at the bottom of the box. When she pulled one of the items out, she noticed that they looked like cards. She looked to Sly, and asked, "What are these?"

"Little cards like what I leave behind," he answered, "Those are red too."

Carmelita looked surprised, "Really? Do Bentley, and Murray have these kind as well?"

"I offered but they decided not to," Sly replied. Back when they first started, he wanted to make the guys feel included in the heists by making them personalized calling cards. They preferred remaining anonymous, or at least that was what Sly was told at the time. It makes sense to him but he still feels like there was another reason other than that. When Sly finished his train of thought, he spoke once more, "Besides, now people can see what happened to Old Ironsides Fox."

Carmelita looked ready to punch her boyfriend, "Excuse me?"

"It's what Neyla called you," Sly explained.

"She wasn't the only one," she shrugged before giving an amused chuckle, "I feel tempted to go after my old coworkers as well."

"Well we can screw with them," Sly offered, "But we have to be careful not to steal from them."

Carmelita shrugged once more, "Eh. Interpol doesn't pay super great anyway."

Sly smiled as he put an arm around Carmelita's shoulders, "Anyway, you'll need that outfit for one final test."

Carmelita looked almost shocked at the statement, "One more test?"

Sly gave a slight laugh at her surprise, "Don't worry. It's physical. And it'll be the toughest test of all."

Carmelita began to leap enthusiastically into action, "I'm ready now-Ow."

Unfortunately, her previous aches came back to remind her to wait, "Maybe another time."

Sly began laughing a little harder at her halted enthusiasm, "Yeah. It's pretty tough anyway. Your final test is a field trial. You'll be stealing a very specific item from my family's vault."

"Your family vault?"

"Yeah. Bentley will guide you from the control center. However, you'll just have Bentley to support you. You'll be on your own other than that."

"I see. So why your family vault?"

"Well we can control your challenge. There's a bunch of security in place to stop intruders and they're really tough. We tossed a dummy in there and that's how we got metal for the lockpicks. However, since it's not dire, you'll be okay."

"Making things easier on me?"

"Just a little."

"I'd rather take the challenge head on."

"Okay then. We start in a few hours. You might want to get ready."

As Sly got up and walked away, Carmelita began regretting her words already. But she'd rather not face a challenge than go through one that was made easier for her. So as soon as she was feeling up to it, she got suited up in her new outfit and took a little time to admire how it looked on her. She won't lie, and admit it looked really good on her. As she walked out to meet up with Sly, she thought out loud, "This will be fun."


End file.
